Sarah Davis accepted to The Citadel

Bluffton High School senior Sarah Davis holds a photograph of her mother Jeannie Davis, who died of lung cancer in 2006. Sarah Davis has been accepted to The Citadel. She has dreams of becoming a nurse.

Bluffton High School senior Sarah Davis will go from leading cadets to being one among nearly 2,100 in The Citadel's undergraduate Corps of Cadets next fall.

"I'm super excited," said Davis, who is a company commander in Bluffton High's Junior Reserve Officer's Training Corps.

She learned Feb. 5 she would attend the state senior military college in Charleston, one of only six in the country.

"It has been my dream college since the beginning of my senior year to go into a military school," Davis said.

She will truly be one of the few and the proud, said Citadel Director of Admissions retired Marine Lt. Col. John W. Powell Jr.

"There's a very small subset of students, male or female, who are interested in accepting the challenges we offer," said Powell. "Young women who accept the challenge here can write their own tickets."

Founded in 1853, The Citadel first officially accepted female cadets in 1996. Last year's freshman class had a record incoming 53 freshmen women. He said that number is on the rise, and if 60 enroll in the fall out of 725 freshmen, it will bring the percentage of females to 8 percent.

"She's an outstanding cadet," said Sgt. Maj. Sammie Brown, a JROTC instructor at Bluffton High School. He said that Davis leads her company to heights of community service. Last year, she was involved in helping at Carolina House, and this year her company has been heavily involved helping Bluffton Self Help.

"My parents have kept me motivated the whole time," said Davis, of her dad M.T. Davis and his fiancée Karen Smith. "I'm the first generation to go college in the Davis family. I'd be the first to go to The Citadel."

Davis' mom, Jeannie Davis, died in 2006 after battling lung cancer. She worked for four years as a receptionist for the Carolina Morning News, which became Bluffton Today.

"I think my mom would be really, really proud of both me and my brother. She had really big dreams for both of us. I think she's looking down on us," Davis said.

Her brother, Bluffton High School graduate Paul Davis, just built a house with his wife Heather Davis in Effingham County, Ga. They are expecting their second child in April.

Throughout high school, Davis has worked her way up through the ranks in JROTC to company commander.

"All my cadets are kind of my life," said Davis, who prefers JROTC and anatomy to all other subjects. She plans to eventually become a nurse.

JROTC has kept high school interesting, she said.

"One of the things I love the most is you're always doing something different. Variety keeps you motivated. Each year you get motivated in rank and position. To be a company commander this year has been a highlight. From the very beginning, I looked up to my company commander," she said.

"Lt. Col. John Carothers and Sgt. Maj. Sammie Brown are my second fathers. They go out of the way to make sure school and home life are OK, and that's for all the cadets, not just for me," she said.

JROTC and community service are a big focus at The Citadel, too.

According to www.citadel.edu, during the 2004-2005 academic year, "the 2,000 cadets at The Citadel performed nearly 34,000 hours in community service projects assisting charitable and community causes in South Carolina's Lowcountry and across the state."

Meanwhile, The Citadel's Army ROTC program won the McArthur Award in 2007, ranking No. 1 in the region and edging out 124 other programs in the eastern United States.

About one-third of graduates accept a commission into one of the four branches of the U.S. military.

Citadel cadets face not only academic, but mental and physical challenges.

"It challenges the students 360 degrees," said Powell.

Davis said young people should aim high.

"I'd definitely say go for it. Give it your all. There's going to be ups and downs. It's going to be a rollercoaster," she said. "It's going to be a journey, but it will be rewarding in the end," she said.